Butterfly: Black Wings
by Kosaka
Summary: A psychotic terrorist kidnaps Wufei and Catherine decides to go rescue him. Oh, this CAN'T be good...
1. Chapter One

First of all, I didn't think I'd need to say this, but due to one convoluted and confusing review I got, I feel that I need to remind everyone that **Catherine Bloom is NOT an original character.** Circus girl, remember? Okay, and that's all I'm gonna say on that or I'm going to start ranting about people acting smart when they have no idea what's going on. Blah.

I would like to remind everyone once again that this is the sequel to "Butterfly: To Protect". It won't make sense if you don't read that one first, so if you haven't...kick it into reverse all you gundamites and come back afterwards. If you've read it, yay! you came back! hugs. I want to thank my reviewers again, all like four of them, and hope you enjoy the story.

Standard Disclaimers and etc.

****

**Butterfly: Black Wings**

**by****: Banshee Puppet**

**Chapter One: Innocent Blood**

_The thing I hate most in this world is butterflies. Birds are pretty awful too—animals with wings, they're terrible. It's because just by existing, they're confirming their departure. You just KNOW they're going to fly away. It was the same with Wufei Chang, only I didn't realize it until it was too late._

_Catharine Bloom_

It had been three weeks since Catharine Bloom awoke to an empty mask and a cold bed, and still she couldn't decide whether to cry or scream.

He hadn't left a note, or called, not that she really expected him to. He wasn't that type. It was just that it didn't make sense; she knew he loved her, and now he was gone and she didn't know if he was ever planning to return.

Michael sat down beside her on the bed. "Cat, you've got to get past this eventually. It's making your performance suffer. Manager is canceling your act until you're feeling better. We just can't risk someone getting seriously hurt."

"I know, Michael. It's just...I don't understand. It makes no sense."

"Ah, kit-cat. That guy seriously got to you, didn't he? But did you think he'd be a permanent fixture? He's just like Trowa isn't he? I guess it's only fitting that they're friends, meant to run free—untamed and untamable. All you can do is be here when he comes back to you."

Catharine got very quiet. She thought of Relena, of Hilde, of the way she'd always handled Trowa's returns...

But that was completely different. Trowa was like a baby brother to her. What she felt for Wufei was nothing like that. "I can't live that sort of life!" she demanded. "I can't welcome him home knowing that he's going to leave again, wondering how long I'll get to keep him for this time, wondering if...if this will be the last time that he'll return. Damn it Michael, I thought I'd finally reached him. I thought he'd finally started to heal."

'Oh Cat, he was healing. You healed him. Maybe that's the reason he left. Maybe there was nothing more to it than just that,' the tight rope artist thought with an internal sigh. "Why don't you take a vacation, hm? Visit friends. Trowa's on Earth right now, isn't he? I hear Venice is beautiful in the spring."

"He's busy," Catharine moped. She knew that he was doing important work for Quatre right now. He was running off with the young Arabian more and more often lately.

"Too busy to see _you_?" Michael asked gently. "That's not possible."

"Well...maybe."

"You need some time away to heal too, Cat, and decide how you want to proceed. Don't deny yourself that much, at least that much."

Catharine smiled weakly at her good friend, but didn't answer the blonde right away.

As always, for a distraction he drowned himself in work. In this case, it wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but neither was it particularly healthy. To be honest, he was beginning to understand why Heero was always brooding. Chang Wufei had never before realized how gray his life had seemed until he left Catharine behind.

"Wufei." Sally Po's voice cut through his thoughts. His partner—one might even go so far as to say his best friend. He wasn't sure. Before now, he'd never much thought about friendship. It was just that Sally made no sense to him and it seemed that he made even less to her. Regardless, they were symbiotic; it didn't matter one way or another, despite some bickering over trivial details they got along rather well, never staying angry at one another for more than a few hours. It had always been like that, since they day they met talking to one another was easy, even if they rarely said anything of importance. It was easy to mistake for love, but it wasn't love, not _that_ kind—that kind of love was for...

He shoved the thought aside. "What?"

"It's almost time," Sally said sympathetically. "Are you sure about this?"

"Do you have a better idea? If we don't do something now, he'll only end up hurting more innocent people. Isn't our job to prevent just that sort of thing from happening? Or have I misunderstood?" So, he was a little testy. It was his first time seeing his terrorist of a cousin in years, and Lin Pao was already causing a troublesome reunion. The way Wufei saw it, if he wanted to be in a bad mood, he had every right to be.

Sally sighed. "No, Wufei. You understand it too well I think."

"What does that mean?"

"It means nothing. It doesn't mean anything. Forget I said it. Peaceful negotiations have never been your specialty, that's all."

Wufei glared at the woman, then shrugged his shoulders. He wanted to be angry, but she was right.

"I can do this. Now let's get going," he said.

"Wufei."

"What now?"

"Good luck."

"I don't need it."

Sally giggled only very slightly. "No, I suppose you wouldn't."

Lin Pao had already evaded them three times. He'd been toying with them. No matter what little nugget of information they'd gathered from whichever bizarre and unprecedented route(including one computer-hacking, maniacal genius named Duo Maxwell) Lin was always one step ahead. It would be no different now, Wufei knew as he disembarked onto the K-04 satellite repair station. He had to stay on his toes, especially since his own body was the only weapon left available to him. 'What are you up to this time, cousin?' he wondered.

Cousin. It had been many years since Wufei had called Lin Pao _that_—ever since the latter sabotaged Shenlong's construction in the name of peace, delaying the project by an unnecessary and almost fatal quarter year.

He had been infuriated by the man then. Slightly older than him and therefore supposed to be more responsible, Lin had been claiming to be a pacifist monk at the time. Funny, last time he checked, the only thing that real pacifists burned was themselves.

Lin Pao was not now, nor had he ever been a real pacifist. Relena Peacecraft, when she was calling herself that, _she_ had been a pacifist, and maybe Chang Wufei couldn't believe in a pacifism that could save the world, maybe he couldn't resolve himself to the idea of a peace that didn't come from those who remain after a battle, a peace born from soldiers tired of bloodshed and civilians no longer desirious of fighting petty battles, but he could respect her for it, and he could respect her beautiful dream.

He couldn't, however, respect Lin Pao. Looking back now, Wufei understood that his cousin had never been a pacifist in the first place—that was only a tattered mask. He was a terrorist. He was a terrorist now as he had always been. He tried to force his ideals on those around him. He had been the exact opposite of Meiran. He didn't believe that Shenlong should be used, weapons of war to achieve peace. But at that time, peace had been the furthest thing from their minds; it was freedom they wanted. Then, and later, vengance. The vengeance would always be for Meiran, no, Nataku. But Wufei had disguised nothing, seeking his wife's justice, holding tightly to her memory, a death that would never have happened if Lin Pao had not delayed the gundam's construction. But Wufei was older now, and tired of placing blame.

A monk, though, Lin had been a monk. From the picture Sally had showed her partner of a bald-headed colonial with a cigarette hanging from lightly parted, thin lips, a pierced nipple and a large panther tattoo on his forearm, Wufei could easily guess that things had changed.

Lin Pao had been holding, with a group of followers, some twenty-two hostages on K-04 for the past seventeen days. He'd hijacked the satellite repair station, or SRS, and crashed it here on L-1, though there seemed to be little actually damage. Seventeen days. The hostages must be starving and terrified, and it had taken Lady Une this far, all seventeen of those days to get them this far, as much as the entire thing was against her better judgement. Lin Pao had finally agreed to negotiate, but only with Wufei, unarmed, and known to be the biggest hothead in Preventers history. (Okay, so it was a short history, that didn't change the young man's reputation any.)

Well, just because they were blood relatives didn't mean that Wufei had to trust him. He stared at the taller, bulkier man coldly. "I _am_ wearing a wire, in case you try anything strange," he stated.

Lin Pao wasn't particularly bulky really, but in comparison to Wufei's sleek musculature, he was broader, more imposing to look at.

"Don't you trust me couzin?" he brought his hand to the center of his chest in mock hurt.

"Not even remotely," Wufei returned dryly.

"You hurt me, Wufei, really. We are family after all."

Wufei bit his tongue for once. People's lives depended on his composure. Lin Pao's reckless 'pacifism', the delay in Shenlong's completion, Meiran's death, the injury of seven engineers on the Gundam project, two of whom nearly died—if he wanted to place blame, it would be with Lin Pao, but Wufei was tired of vengeance. He just wanted to get this all over with.

"Are we finished with the small talk now, Lin?" Wufei grit out as politely as possible, which wasn't very.

Lin sighed. "But without small talk we have nothing to say to one another," he said emphatically.

"What are your demands for the release of the hostages?" Wufei asked.

Lin Pao simply smirked. "What hostages?" he asked innocently.

The bound men and women, on this cue, stood, ropes falling loosely about them, and revealed the guns hidden behind their backs, all now pointed at one Chang Wufei.

Lin Pao shrugged apologetically, though he didn't seem apologetic at all. "How's your friend Quatre, Wufei?"

All the young Preventer could think at that moment was, 'Oh...shit.'

"Just kidding!" Lin laughed, waving it off. "I hear he's on Earth right now. Lucky boy."

"What are you plotting Lin?" Wufei tried to remain calm.

"Hey, Wufei, let's go back to L-5, huh?"

'What?!' Wufei tried to be a reasonable human being, but right now there were all sorts of bells and whistles going off in his head that had no right being there in the first place. "L-5 is gone, Lin Pao," he managed out finally.

"Oh," Lin pouted. "But they must have left _something_ behind for the survivors. Come with me to find it, Wufei—our heritage as the survivors of L-5."

"What are you..."

A heavy **thud** resounded against the back of Wufei's head and the last thing he heard was Lin Pao's voice saying, "Honestly, Wufei, you of all people should understand our work. The road to lasting peace is always paved with innocent blood."

**_Chapter One End_**

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A/N: This is a very vague reference to the historical self-immolations of the Buddhist Monks in...I want to say Vietnam, but don't quote me on that.

A/N: Well, as I was typing this chapter up I was thinking: I've made a very psycho original character in Lin. He really seems pretty "crazy evil" doesn't he? That's unsual. Usually I make bad guys that are easy to relate to, like "he's evil, but it makes sense, I get how he turned out like this"...so this is different, but maybe I'll reneg on that later. I have the first three chapters of this story written and I work on the third while I'm at work, but I have to type, you know. Normally I'd write right in word, but lately I've been doing most of my fanfic writing at my desk at work. I'm getting a lot done this way, at least, and when I type stuff up I can pick up on most of the inconsistencies, so maybe this is all a good thing. I hope to type chapter two soon, and I hope you enjoy this story, though I have a fear that it will be boring in comparison to the first since it's more plot than banter...well, I'll try my best to write a great story.

Cheers!

Banshee Puppet


	2. Chapter Two

A/N: words spoken in a foreign language will appear as follows:

## _"words spoken in a foreign laugnage" _##

**Butterfly: Black Wings**

**by: Banshee Puppet**

**Chapter Two: Failsafe**

"Engine Two is out! I repeat, Engine Two has failed! Water, we've got to get out of here before this whole thing blows!"

Sally cursed under her breath. "Wufei is still in there!" she protested. "How much longer can we last?" she demanded.

Lin Pao had gotten them again. While the small crew waited for their commradde, he'd had his men leak duuvinium into the docking station. The gaseous chemical, though harmless to humans, causes metals and plastics to compress. A loud thud indicated another massive dent in the outer hull.

"Two minutes, and that's if we're lucky!" the young man in the co-pilot's seat returned in a panic. "I don't wnat to leave Chang either Captain, but if we don't get out of here _now_ we won't get another chance!"

"Damnit! _YOU RECKLESS BASTARDS!!_" Sally screamed.

"Incoming from HQ. It's Lady Une."

Sally turned to the screen as the girl patched her through. "Water, get your men back here _right now_."

"But Wufei is..."

"We _will_ get him back Sally. Rest assured of that. But in order to get him back, I need you alive."

Sally clenched her fists. "Maya, take us home."

"Roger that."

And the long flight back to Earth was filled with morbid silence. 'Wufei, you damn fool, don't you dare die, not now,' Sally thought. 'Not before I can kick your no-good ass.'

Venice. History had made it a city of waterways and it hadn't changed much. Catherine shivered and pulled the plastic poncho she wore tighter over her head. It was the rainy season here in the Italian city, and the canals were slightly flooded.

She thanked the boatman and tipped him, apologizing for the wet bills before slipping into the old Hilton Hotel. She removed the poncho's hood and looked around. Within her own mind, she let off a low whistle. 'Fancy. I know that Quatre is loaded, but knowing it and seeing it are two very different things.'

##_ "Can I help you?" _## the clerk asked.

In halting Italian, Catharine spoke. ##_ "Yes. Please. I am looking for Mr. Winner and... Mr. Barton. I...uh..."_ ## She struggled to find the word she was looking for. ## _"I am..his.." _##

The main raised a hand and said in thickly accented English that she had to take special care to understand, "You are...Mr. Barton's sister? ...Miss Catherine?"

"Yes!" Catherine said, relieved. Trowa had called her his sister? It made her happy. She'd always felt as if he was a younger brother to her, so that he felt similarly felt good, and she needed to feel good, now especially. She needed happiness and distraction.

"Penthouse Level. #2 on the right side," he said thickly. "All the way up top."

"Thank you very much!" she replied.

"I will call ahead of you."

"Thanks."

Quatre nearly jumped out of his skin when the phone rang. "Y-yes? I mean,...si?" he stumbled, straightening his hair. _## "Okay, yes. Thank you very much... ...Buona Sera," ##_ he said, hanging up the phone.

Trowa sat up on the floor and raised an eyebrow at the slight blonde.

"Catherine is here! She's earlier than I thought! For Allah's sake, where's my shirt?!"

Trowa handed the button down over, not looking at all concerned as the Arabian boy tried desperately to make himself look presentable within the next theiry seconds. "How can you be so calm? Catherine will be up here any second and I'm only half-dressed!" Quatre panicked. "She'll think...!"

"That I was giving you a massage?" Trowa finished for him calmly. "Calm down. Getting your shoulders rubbed isn't really a crime, Quatre."

'Well, no, b-but...vest, vest, vest...' the blonde thought.

Trowa handed it to him. "Exactly where you left it," he stated.

"Don't be so embarrased. It was only a massage. You've been stressed and you needed it."

"But...!"

Trowa had to repress a laugh. Quatre was really such fun to torture about this sort of thing. They were close, so of course that kind of rumor would circulate. He grabbed Quatre by the shoulders to prevent the blonde's impending panic attack. "Quatre, I offered to give you a back massage, not a blow job. Stop flipping out."

Quatre's cheeks flared and the blonde began to stutter, no words actually distinguishable through the string of pure nonsense. Trowa just pulled the boy into a friendly hug and laughed. "I'm sorry Quatre, but watching you get this flusters is amusing," he said.

"Trowa, you're becoming an irritating jerk lately," the smaller young man protested.

"I know." 'Yeah, I'm awful, wretched, and at this rate I'll ruin that innocent mind of yours completely. But...I am also...happy, very happy, my friend, to feel as if I am being useful to you,' he thought.

"Oh! Sorry if I'm intruding! The door was open, so I thought..." Catherine had caught them in their embrace, faces close, just as Quatre looked up to glare at the tall European.

Trowa let go, and unable to resist, said, "not at all! We were just finalizing our engagement."

"Huh?" Catherine blinked, unsure whether he was serious or not. He joked with the same tone he spoke with, so it was difficult to tell.

"Trowa!" Quatre protested, tackling the brunette in his 'righteous indignation'. "Don't give her strange ideas! It's bad enough that Duo's gotten Heero to join in on the wedding jokes without you helping!!!"

Trowa's eyes became deadly serious. "Quatre."

"What?" Quatre blinked at the sudden shift of expression.

"... ...move further down," the green eyed man said suggestively.

It was then that he realized he was straddling Trowa's waist and he blushed, squeaked, and leapt to his feet. "Ohh you! He's..." he began to explain to Catherine when his green-eyed friend erupted into peals of laughter, holding his stomach. Quatre sighed. "...just teasing me," he explained. 'He's a horrible, horrible person."

Catherine stared at Trowa's smiling face for a few long moments. 'He's so happy. I—I'm glad, but—I feel like I'm interrupting him.'

"I'm sorry Catherine," Trowa said finally, brushing himself off and offering her a seat on the couch. "What brings you to Venice?"

"I'm on a temporary leave of absence, actually," the woman admitted, feeling guilty for being secretive up until now.

"On leave? Why?" Trowa asked. It seemed unusual was all; the circus had been Catherine's entire life for as long as he'd known her. She didn't have anything else or the impetus to get anything else. She was happy there, at least he'd always thought so.

"I...can't concentrate," she said quietly. "Someone might get hurt, like that time...when I cut you. You remember, right?"

Trowa's eyes grew grave as he shot Quatre a look. "I'm going to make us some tea!" the blood said enthusiastically before scurrying out of the room. Trowa sat down beside the woman, leaned forward slightly, resting his elbows on his knees. "What happened Cathy?" he asked.

Catherine Bloom hesitated, something she wasn't known for doing, pretty much, well, ever. "Cathy?" he repeated.

"I...met someone," she said after a pause. "But he's gone now." She decided not to tell him that it was Wufei. She didn't want him to be angry with his friend. She sighed. "I'm not angry anymore. I just don't understand. He feels the same way I do, so I...I can't stop thinking about it, Trowa, and it's distracting me pretty badly."

'Cathy.' She wasn't crying, he realized, and figured it was simply because she'd run out of tears to shed. She'd cried about this enough; that's how it seemed. And it pained Trowa to know it, but there wasn't really anything he could do to help her. He put his hand on her knee and gave it a slightly awkward pat, which was all it took for the tears to streak down her face once again. "Damn it." She wiped at them over and over. "I promised myself I wouldn't cry anymore But I...Trowa...I..."

"Shh," he comforted, holding her in a loose embrace. "It's okay."

"It's not okay at all!" she demanded. "I miss him so much! It's so painful that sometimes I can hardly breathe and I...I just don't know what to do! I can't even work. I can't...I...how do I get past this? Tell me, please, I just don't know what to do. Everything has changed."

Trowa tightened his arms around her protectively. He'd never before seen her in such a state. For so long it had been her that was protecting him. "You're right," he told her. "It's not okay, but telling you that sort of thing is really all that I can do, because I don't understand either Cathy. I don't understand love. You know that."

"It's...not easy..." she said, her tears stopping once again. "But it was worth it, even if only for a little while."

Wufei awoke to a throbbing headache and cold metal. Slowly, and taking extra care around a shoulder that felt particularly tender, he pulled himself into an upright position. 'Where?' he wondered, and then the previous week flashed through his mind. That's right. Lin Pao—Lin had trickedh im. 'Peace is what happens when people are tired of fighting. His _revolutionary_ ways go against his own wishes,' he thought.

"Welcome back Sleeping Beauty,"

Lin's sarcastic tone cut through the hollow silence and was not appreciated for its efforts.

"Why am I here?" Wufei asked flatly, pulling against the cuffs that had his hands bound behind his back. Another chain was laced through here and looped around a steel construction beam. He wasn't going anywhere for a while. Well, crap. Oh, he had no intention of giving up. He was Chang Wufei, after all; he'd been in worse situations than this, but at the moment, he really didn't know how he was going to get out of this one, so he glared at his cousin to let him know how _not pleased_ he was.

"Wufei Change, you are a gundam pilot, a preventer as well, and a survivor of the suicidal L-5, surely you can understand the steps that I am taking."

Wufei could hear a dangerous echo of Treize in his cousin now. 'Trieze. How much longer do I have to keep fighting you? I don't want to fight to defeat you anymore. I want to fight for Catherine.' He heaved a mental sigh. 'Catherine...' and then he snapped himself back into the present. It was pointless to dwell on his reasons for fighting now. All he wanted to do was stop Lin, because he _had_ to, because he was a dragon, but also a black butterfly, and black wings have always been a symbol of those who have fallen. These warriors of the past with their black wings and their black hands—all we can do now is protect those who cannot protect themselves, and hope that when we die for _that_ kind of love, those who we've left behind can honor our sacrifice, and with time, forgive us our heavy sins.

"Stop talking in riddles. What are you looking for?"

"A book, actually."

"A book?" Wufei well knew that even if he said a book, that wasn't what he truly meant.

"Yes, a little black book cataloging the Nation's dirty little secrets, and a manmade star that will finish this long and repetitive conversation between Earth and the Colonies. It's a fragile affair, you know, breaking the world, but I think it's finally coming together."

As usual, Lin Pao spoke in qualifiers and riddles, hinting at his meanings but not giving enough to go on for anything solid. 'Break the world? Little black book? What the hell is he driving at?' Wufei realized now that he would have to wait it out for now. 'I'll stop you at L-5 then, when I know what it is you're planning,' he decided. It was really all that he could do for now.

"I'm going to stop you!" he snapped, pulling on his chains.

Lin Pao gave a simple, light-hearted laugh. "Well how would I have any fun if you didn't try?" he asked innocently.

Sad to say, but _that_ is the first time that Wufei realized his cousin wasn't quite sane. It had never crossed his mind before because...well, because the roads Lin took to his goal were always completely logical...but there was something missing, something unable to be claimed by war or by peace. 'What...what made you this way?' he wondered. 'Why are you still so angry with me, after all these years?' Wufei knew that Lin Pao had always hated him, but couldn't understand why the former monk was treating this like some personal vendetta. So he was surprised when Lin left the room and his current guard, leaning on her shotgun sighed. "It's because something small will never work, because blowing up the Earth, like they planned back then didn't come to the root of the problem."

"So what are you guys...?" Wufei started to ask. It seemed as if he would be able to get some information out of this woman—no, girl—she couldn't be more than sixteen, though not much younger than he was now, only a few years, there was still a lot of growing up to do.

"We're going to use K-04's mobile transmission frequency to destroy the colonies, all of them. It's what it was intended for anyway. We only need L-5's code to unlock the device now."

"**_WHAT??!_**" Wufei couldn't believe what he was hearing! They'd worked so hard to protect the colonies! Now Lin Pao wanted to blow them up? Kill _millions_ of people. That...

"That's his idea of bringing peace! That's totally unforgivable!" He was enraged, fighting against his chains. He felt the steel give, only very slightly, and his eyes widened marginally in surprise. Okay, so he was getting somewhere. Good.

"If the colonies are gone there won't be anyone left for the Earth to fight. That's why. Sacrifices must be made for our beautiful dreams. Anyway, this is what the earth intended all along. If they didn't, that failsafe would never have been installed."

'Failsafe? What failsafe?' Wufei wondered. He'd never heard anything about this.

"You guys, the gundam pilots, you're all so strong and still so naive. That's why you should be here to see the rebirth of outer space, so that you can see how misguided you have been in fighting useless battles for useless ideals, when all along, Earth has had us all in its palm, for its own whims, but the Earth can't be destroyed. It's our heritage, so this is all that we can do."

Wufei's rage calmed and he smirked up at the foolish girl. "_All that we can do_?" he asked. "I know a girl who doesn't believe in that sort of phrase, and that's why I'm certain now, that I can definitely defeat you. That sort of phrase...aren't you just covering up your own cowardice? Weaklings like you shouldn't be fighting." And she wasn't weak in the way that he had thought that Sally was weak so long ago; rather, her spirit was weak, it had a flaw of cowardice in it. 'I can definitely defeat _that_ kind of weakness,' the gundam pilot thought. 'No problem.' Catharine had been right, he realized now: he would always be fighting. 'I don't need the Altron, or the Shenlong anymore. I don't even need Nataku. I can be strong on my own now, at last, I can be strong as Chang Wufei and that will be enough. I can fight as I am, a man only, and I can win. I will definitely win, even if it kills me.'

End Chapter Two

A/N: Well, this chapter was extremely difficult to write and I feel that it wasn't terribly interesting, yet necessary. I don't know, I feel the first story of the arc was and will continue to be more entertaining because the Wu/Cat dialogues were fun (if somewhat pointless) and this story is primarily plot. Well, Quatre's back rub was fun to write though! Hah! I really wanted Quatre and Trowa to be sort of ubiquitous(I think that's the word I want to use here.) Are they very good friends, is it something more—that should be up for interpretation. I want to let the reader see my story's side characters relationships in the light they choose for the post part...though Trowa teasing Quatre and saying "blow job" so easily, I dunno, I imagine Quatre's expression and laugh. As far as Wu & Cathy, I don't think they'll see each other again until towards the end of this story and then more fun in the final story of the arc. Uhm,so...yeah...now to figure out what happens next and hope that it's more interesting than this chapter. I'm soooo bad at writing action! Sorry! I'll try to get better! In the meanwhile, thank you for reading anyway, and I hope to have a new chapter up soon.


	3. Chapter Three

**Butterfly: Black Wings**

**By: Banshee Puppet**

**Chapter Three: Stillborn**

Sally frowned into the mirror, pulling the icepack away from her eye to get a look at the black and blue there. She touched it extra carefully, winced, sighed, and put the ice back on the tender flesh beside her right eye. With two engines out of commission, it had been a rough flight back and she'd fallen into a very unhappy corner, given herself a black eye and a badly bruised knee. She took her cane with a frown and limped down the hall. There was no time for being injured now, they had to get Wufei back. That's what she intended to tell Lady Une when she made it to the meeting in the female Director's office. But she'd never get to that, as she was rather surprised at who she found standing in the center of the room, wearing a Preventer's uniform, with a manila file open in hand. At the sound of the door, he silently looked up at her.

"Trowa?!?"

The young man gave her a his customary curt 'hello' nod and returned to the file.

Lady Une stood and gestured Sally to a seat. "I've called you here out of courtesy, Sally," she said. "Trowa will be taking our place on this mission."

Sally looked to Trowa for confirmation and the young man said frankly, "since you've been injured."

"But Trowa, is that really okay? Doesn't Quatre need you?"

"It's fine. Quatre needs company: anyone will do," Trowa replied. "And Quatre hasn't been taken hostage by a terrorist."

"Neither has Wufei in the strictest manner of speaking," Une said. "For it to be a hostage situation, there have to be demands for the hostage's release. So for all intents of purposes, Wufei is either a kidnapee, or a prisoner."

"Lin Pao hasn't made any demands?"

"We haven't been able to communicate with him since the incident, as if..."

"...kidnapping Wufei was his goal all along."

"But what about the satellite and..." Sally began.

"It's a reverse Operation Meteor," Trowa said.

"We're calling it 'Operation Black Hole' for the time being," Une clarified. "Almost two centuries ago, when the colonies were first built, the stability of the nuclear core was in question. The people at that time had bad memories of what Nuclear power could do if used incorrectly and were hesitant to take chances with that sort of power. The memory of the first Atomic Bombs is something that lays heavy on the hearts of this world and it's people, even now, but then—well, people were afraid. Power was measured by man's ability to destroy and peace was held tentatively on the shoulders of men who could destroy half of the Earth with he push of a single button. Because of this, when the nuclear core was proposed for the colonies, a massive explosion in outer space was the first thought in the minds of many men. A big enough explosion would cause a black hole, and many colonies were already under construction. As such, the government of the then called United Nation decided upon a failsafe mechanism to be installed into each colony. This mechanism would destroy the colonies and contain their nuclear cores before any serious damage could be done. Due to the way the colonies were linked then, an explosion in one would trigger the same in the next, so it was decided to make one system capable of decimating them all. The remnants of that outdated system are on satellite repair station K-04, a long-since remodeled nuclear facility. What the human race didn't realize at that time was that a chain explosion of the caliber that would be necessary to destroy so many colonies would invariably create a black hole large enough and strong enough to suck in not only the Earth, but even the very sun. Each colony was assigned a seven digit command. We have reason to believe that..."

"Wufei's cousin is heading to L-5 airspace to look for the nuclear core. The containment unit will have the key command on it," a man's voice said from the doorway.

"Zechs!" Sally exclaimed, confused. She thought he was working on Relena's terra-forming project.

"Thank you for coming, Wind," Lady Une said rather professionally.

"It's been quite a while Sally," the blonde man said in greeting. Then to Une, "I came as soon as I heard." He looked like he'd traveled without sleep for at least a day and a half. His platinum hair was bound back into a low, loose ponytail with the bangs falling in his eyes and he had a pale five o'clock shadow.

"You aren't rested," Trowa commented. It seemed obvious to the blonde that what the brunette really meant was 'in this condition, you'll only be a hindrance.'

"I'll rest on the way," Zech replied. "When someone like that tempramental dragon goes and gets himself captured, it's obvious that there's a lot of work to do."

"Right. That's why I'm sending both of you. Millions of people's lives are in your hands, gentlemen; I'm counting on you. I'm leaving a radio with Sally, so you will be able to contact her at any time should it be necessary. We'll also be expecting regular progress reports. Water is cleared for all Information regarding this mission. Wind, Lion, you're dismissed. I leave it in your hands."

"Ma'am!" they both stated automatically, saluting before leaving the room.

"He's in good hands, Sally. Are you more at ease now?" Une asked with a gentle smile.

"Thank you. He's so reckless that I can't help but worry."

"And yet, you're the one who brought him back to the Preventers. I admit, you confuse me sometimes, my friend."

Sally sighed, slouching a bit in her chair. "It's because that guy is restless. Without a sense of purpose, he'll never be happy. It wouldn't be long before he'd start to resent that girl for keeping him somewhere that doesn't suit him."

Une raised an eyebrow. Did Sally really just mention Wufei Chang and a woman in the same sentence? Sally chuckled at the other woman's surprised eyes. "That's right, our little Wufei has finally grown up and fallen in love," she said. "Funny, isn't it?"

"Well, it certainly _did_ take him long enough."

When Catherine came downstairs into the kitchen, Quatre was groggily nodding over a cup of tea.

"Good morning," she said, smiling when the boy jumped slightly.

"Ah. Good morning," Quatre answered sheepishly. "I'm sorry. I was up most of the night."

"Work?" Catherine asked, pouring a cup of cold coffee before sitting across from the petite blonde.

"Something like that."

"Is Trowa still asleep? That's unusual," she said conversationally, cringing slightly at how cold and stale the coffee tasted.

"Uh, no, he left in the middle of the night."

"What? Why?"

"He asked me to apologize," Quatre clarified quickly. "Lady Une called and asked for his help on a fairly urgent job."

Lady Une: she was the Director of the Preventers—those damn Preventers. Oh, in theory, they were the good guys, but Catherine knew, she just _knew_ that it was the Preventers who had stolen Wufei from her, so she was still a bit bitter about it. 'Why is it always fighting and war? I just wanted to live a peaceful life. After my parents died, I just wanted...' She rested her head in her hands a moment to collect her thoughts. "Ooo....that guy! He could have at least woken me up to tell me that he was leaving!" she demanded, punching the table. "They're both jerks! Him _and_ that stupid, arrogant, sarcastic prick Wufei!" she huffed much like a small child throwing a tantrum.

Quatre blined. 'What?' "Uhm, Cathy, what does Wufei have to do with anything?" he asked cautiously.

"It's because he said he was in love with me, that asshole!" she demanded, then clapped her hands over her mouth. "That is, um, I mean...I didn't mean to say that," she admitted. "It's just that when I get mad I don't know what I'm saying."

"You...love _Wufei_?!?" Quatre was baffled. He didn't even know the woman knew the purported 'solitary dragon'. He himself hadn't even seen the Chinese Pilot in over a year.

"Don't tell Trowa," she said. "He'll be angry with Wufei, and I don't want friends fighting because of me."

Quatre nodded. 'So Catherine loves Wufei, and he's admitted to the same before running off with the Preventers. That's sort of typical of him. It's what you'd imagine he'd do if he ever...geez, Wufei in love. It just seems way too crazy to be true, and of all the people to...You'd think someone like Sally, or Lady Une, but I guess love isn't logical at all, that's why...and now he's gone and gotten himself kidnapped by some terrorist...

Should I tell her? She'll just worry but, as the person closes to Wufei...she's the person who loves him most, so...argh! I'm terrible at making these sort of decisions!' he thought, giving himself a headache.

"Quatre?" she asked, seeing the strained expression creasing his brow.

"Wufei's been kidnapped by a psychotic terrorist who wants to blow up the world'!" he blurted out in one long breath. Tehre was a hesitation. "Uh..." 'Did I just say that out loud?' he wondered.

"He **_what_**?!!?!" Catherine demanded, standing.

'Yup. Guess I did,' he thought. "Uh...yeah, that's where Trowa went. To, you know, get him back. I offered to come but...he..." Quatre pouted. "He said I'm too busy here, so..." he cut himself off, sighing heavily. He hated feeling like he wasn't needed.

Catherine stood, acting on impulse and dragged the blonde to his feet. "Come on. Hurry and get dressed."

"Where are we going?"

"To save those two idiots, of course! They'll do something stupid and reckless and get themselves killed if we don't!"

"Cathy..."

'I can't just sit here and do nothing if they're in trouble!' she thought.

Quatre's hand came to his heart as the woman turned away. 'Catherine, you really are completely in love beyond any hope of reprieve, aren't you?' he thought.

"Well, are you coming or not?" she asked, turning to find the Arabian still standing in the same spot in the kitchen. "Geez," she sighed. "Seriously, I'll go without you if you don't hurry you know," she informed him.

Quatre smiled a bit, coming out of his daze. "Y-yeah. Coming." 'You're right, of course. Those two, their idea of strategy is shoot and slash until either they can't get up anymore, or you're dead. So let's go save our very important friends,' Quatre thought as he ran to his room.

It was dark and therefore Wufei could only assume, quite late. He'd been left alone, though he figured the outer door to this storage compartment was guarded. The ride had been rough, jostling the crates and upturning them. S.R.S. were simply not designed for traveling at this kind of speed. K-04 would make it to L-5, probably, but it wouldn't survive the return voyage. Conveniently, Lin Pao didn't seem to have any intention of a return mission. Somewhat less conveniently, Wufei did. He'd been subtly struggling against his chains for hours and his muscles were sore, so when he heard a sudden CRACK he wasn't as prepared as he would like to be and had to shift and fall onto his left side to avoid being crushed when the steel beam slammed downward, smashing many of the fallen crates and half-blocking the door. There wasn't time to think about his exhaustion or his pain. He pulled at every muscle in his body to get away from the chain that bound him to the pole. In the end, he had to shimmy down the poll, letting the chain dangle from the still bound cuffs on his wrists. The door jammed against the steel, then with a struggle, slammed open. Wufei leapt over the poll and, perhaps a fraction slower than usual, swung a side kick up at the person he found there only to stop suddenly at the shotgun leveled at his head, safety already released.

It was that young girl again, wearing a merciless look in her eyes in those first moments before surprise set in. "Are you really so determined to stop us? But why? The Gundams have always fought for peace."

"I have _never_ fought for peace," Wufei retorted, lowering his leg slowly so she didn't think he was trying something. Getting shot was not in his agenda for the day if he could help it. The side kick was already useless now that he'd stopped anyway, his momentum and energy totally sapped. "And I am no longer a gundam pilot. I am a Preventer."

"I don't understand. Then why are you fighting?!"

"For justice," he said without even thinking about it. "And also, to protect."

"But can't you understand at all? To fight for peace is really beautiful, so..."

Wufei cut her off. "It's not even remotely beautiful, you idiot! Peace at the expense of millions of lives isn't peace, it's a massacre, and it's totally meaningless on top of that! Damn idiot!" Wufei was infuriated. Didn't she understand at least that much? "Don't you understand that revolution and war never bring peace? It's the people who survive after the war that bring peace."

"Like Vice Foreign Minister Darlain?"

Relena Darlain. She was a woman he couldn't particularly understand or relate to, but she was also a woman that he'd grown to respect. "Yes," he answered. "Exactly like that silly woman."

The girl was silent for a long few moments. Softly then, with a resignation in it that she could hardly bear, she said, "Lin Pao isn't a man who's capable of attaining true peace, no matter how much held like to be, is he?"

"No more than I am."

From beyond the door a scruffy voice could be heard:

"Naone, what's going on?"

The girl looked over her shoulder and said, "Nothing Ro, those damn crates knocking around again is all."

Wufei let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding as the girl turned back to him, a dire expression on her features.

'What is it?' he wondered.

"Three years ago, I was nearly raped. Lin Pao shot my attacker at the last moment and saved me. It was at that time that I swore I'd dedicate my life to him. So, this is all that I can do for you now." She held out the shotgun for him to take. "Next time we see each other, we'll definitely be enemies, so hit me as hard as you can."

Wufei took the gun and slammed it into her stomach hard, despite the awkward positioning with the cuffs still behind his back. Keeling over, she whispered, "Lin... ... ... ... sor-ry," before a red flash of pain pulled her from consciousness.

Wufei looked down at the girl for a long moment. 'Because she...' he didn't bother finishing the thought, instead sighing as if the entire affair was totally cumbersome. He grabbed the pouch of extra bullets at her hip and shoved it awkwardly into his pocket after maneuvering (thanks to martial arts giving him impressive flexibility) so that the cuffs and chain were in front of him. No keys on her either—damn. Well, he was willing to take small victories for now. He moved to the door and peeked outside. No one there. Good. 'Naone, thank you,' he thought before heading from the room. 'The control room. If we never reach L-5, then...'

"Looks like we've made it early to the party," Ro said, flipping amber bangs from equally amber eyes.

"Looks like a grave," Lin Pao said, frowning at the wreckage. He didn't think it would be so painful to see the former glory of L-5 reduced to this. He hadn't been home in years, ever since...no, he decided, he wasn't going to think of that, of _her_.

"It's not a grave," the woman's honey voice said from behind him. She walked up to his side, her long blonde hair bound back into an elegant braid. "It's a womb."

"Yeah," Lin replied. "You're right, Dorothy, as always. Well, let's get to work."

End Chapter Three


	4. Chapter Four

**Butterfly: Black Wings**

**By: Banshee Puppet**

**Chapter Four: Hopeless**

Naone awoke suddenly to the feeling of being violently jarred. "Ugh." Slowly, the voice came to her ears , rising in pitch and volume. "Naone! Naone, are you okay? Wake up!"

Heavily, deep brown eyes fluttered open beneath long lashes. "Lin Pao?" she asked. But no, that wasn't his voice at all. Reaching a hand up to her face, she pushed the tangled dusty blonde curls from her eyes and took a long few moments to let her eyes focus. The boy sighed. Lin Pao. Even at a time like this, Arima Naone could think of nothing but Lin Pao. He was their leader, so of course she should think of him, but not to these lengths. 'Ari, can't you see that there are people more appropriate for you than he is? Like me? I'm the one who cares about you. I'm the one who, more than anyone else..'

"Oh. Drix. It's you."

'Oh. Drix. It's you?' he thought huffily. 'That's all you have to say?! What the hell happened? You're hurt you moron!'

Naone saw the huffy anger enter Drix's gray eyes. He wasn't unattractive, Drix, on the rare occasion that he was smiling. His skin was nearly ghost white, but he had charcoal black hair that fell in soft waves over his brow, cropped short all the way around but more shaggy and restless on top with these little streaks of a natural orangey color flecking it at random intervals, but, Naone thought, his personality sucked. 'What the hell does this cretin hate me so much for?' She sat up carefully. 'Ooo. I think I'm gonna puke.'

"You idiot!" Drix snapped. "What the hell happened?! Why didn't you call for help? I mean, look at this mess!"

'You could have been killed!' he thought.

"Chang got out," Naone mumbled.

"Yeah," Drix answered. "No kidding. I'll tell the boss."

"No! I—I'll go. It's fine. I'm to blame anyway." She pushed up to her feet. "Whoa." Wobbling slightly, Naone made the comment, "like riding the roller coaster after eating nachos, three corn dogs, and an every-flavor slushie."

Drix pushed his hand through his bangs. "I'll start looking for Chang. He's got to be here somewhere, after all."

'You silly fool,' he thought. 'Don't you understand that you're just a tool for him to use? He doesn't love you. The person who loves you, is me…'

Lin Pao stared out over the wreckage from the bridge. Outside, his men (and women) were sited up and working diligently to locate L-5's abandoned containment core. Seemingly out of nowhere, and never turning his gaze upon her, he said, "I haven't figured out precisely what's in it for you, Miss Catalonia."

She turned a saccharine smile upon the man. "You mean you don't believe I'm doing this out of the goodness of my heart? I'm hurt, Lin Pao, really. I'll have you know I'm very altruistic."

Lin felt a migraine coming on. This woman—she didn't even try to hide the fact that she had ulterior motives. But for the life of him, he couldn't figure out what they were. He'd done his homework; this she-wolf had nothing to gain from the colonies destruction, and someone as in love with war as Dorothy Catalonia certainly wasn't helping him for the sake of peace.

"You're as much an altruist as I am a man of the cloth. It's convenient to say, but meaningless. So stop jerking me around, what are you really after?"

Rather vaguely Dorothy replied, "I just want to see how this whole thing turns out. Something interesting is _bound_ to happen."

There was a fizzle of static. "Boss, I think we've found the outer shell. Prepping to crack it open."

"Yeah. Go for it," Lin said. "I'm going to start the coding sequence if you're sure."

"Uh…get back to you in five?"

"Fine."

As he said it, he heard footsteps echoing in the cold hallway beyond the door, which slid open with a puff of hair.

"M-Mr. Lin?"

"What is it Naone?"

"It's Chang, sir. He's gotten out."

"_WHAAT?!_ You worthless little fool! What did I tell you about disappointing me?!"

"Ah, yeah, but…"

"Damn it!" he spun and grabbed the girl hard by the arm. She squeezed her eyes shut in fearful resignation and, with an annoyed sigh, he tossed her to the ground. "Don't you realize that the reason girls like you get raped in the first place is that you don't _do_ anything?! Geez, what was I thinking, a weak woman like you is useless to me. I should have left you to have that body of yours ruined. You damn well would have deserved it."

"I. I…" Naone stuttered. "You're right," she said in resignation.

"What a weak woman you are," Dorothy commented off-handedly. "That you just take what he says as the absolute truth."

'Women in love are really the absolute worst,' she thought. 'I should know. I've been terrible for a long time too.'

Trowa shook Zechs' shoulder.

"Hm?" the blonde blinked awake.

"We're nearly there."

"Element of surprise?"

"Non-existent. It's wide open out there."

"Alright. Then we'll have to do it in the usual way. I'm going to prep the space Leo."

"Roger that."

Wufei was cursing the chains on his wrists which made it virtually impossible to move silently, even for him. Another guard had spotted him. They were easy to defeat. Swinging his arms so the heavy chain slammed against the young man's head with a satisfying 'thunk', Wufei was assured that when the boy awoke, he was going to have one hell of a headache. And then a click sounded behind him, the familiar sound of the safety on a small military issue handgun being released as the first bulled clicked into place. "That's as far as you go I'm afraid," Drix stated calmly.

'Shit,' Wufei thought. This was _so very **not** _his day. Slowly, he turned, wondering how he was going to get out of this one.

"SHOOT THEM DOWN!!" Lin Pao demanded. He was pissed. How _dare_ the Preventers interfere! "Naone! Last chance, shoot them _down_!"

It was her chance to make it up to him. She knew now that if she failed in this, she was dead. Of course, they were probably all going to die anyway, but she didn't want to be killed by Lin Pao, so she fired at the Preventer's ship.

Trowa managed to evade the blast, but his eyes widened upon seeing what the girl managed to hit. "Zechs, the core!"

"Those _idiots!!_" Zech demanded. "I'll take care of it. Get Chang off of that ship!"

"Roger that."

When Wufei was about to take the chance that he was a quicker shot than his opponent, a loud, echoing shot rang through the hallway.

Drix cried out, grabbing at his shoulder and slinking, dragging a trail of blood down the wall. He'd never actually been shot before, and couldn't immediately come to terms with how painful it was. It was only a shoulder wound, but he couldn't help but think, 'am I going to die? Like a coward? Without ever having told Naone that I…'

Wufei's eyes widened in surprise at the woman in her green dress as she pulled the ribbon from her hair and let her platinum strands fall long and loose down her back. "Dorothy Catalonia," he stated, but it was a question. Why was she here, and more importantly why was she helping him.

She smiled with that sweet liar's smile she had and tossed him a key that could only be for the chains on his wrists. Of all the women in the world, it was this conniving woman who made the least sense to him.

"Go defeat your cousin, Wufei Chang, before he destroys the world," she said.

"What the hell are you after?"

"Something interesting. Go on. I'm going to greet our guests."

He would have liked to tear the answer from her throat, but there was no time. He could feel things coming to a head at last. So he dropped the chains to the ground and hurried down the hallway.

It was only moments later that Trowa ran into the hall from the other end, and skidded to a halt to find a gun pointed at his head.

'Dorothy Catalonia.'

"I knew that if something big like this happened, you'd come."

Trowa blinked. 'Huh?'

The young woman remembered how he'd saved Quatre after their duel so long ago and found she was jealous of even their friendship. She eased the safety back slowly. 'This is the only way that I can love you. I won't let anyone else have you, Trowa!'

"Trowa!" Quatre cried out. It was in that instant, on instinct, that Trowa lifted his own gun quickly and pulled the trigger. The bullet went straight through the right side of Dorothy's stomach. He blinked. In truth, for a long moment, Trowa didn't know what had happened.

Catherine gasped. She knew that Trowa had always been a soldier. She'd seen him in his Gundam, but she'd never actually seen him shoot someone. "Trowa?!" she asked.

"Are you alright?" Quatre demanded, already inspecting the older boy for wounds.

Dorothy looked painfully up at Catherine. "Are you the one?" she asked heavily. The boys were so engaged in Trowa's insistence that he was fine and Quatre's 'don't lie's and 'just let me check, you stubborn idiot's that they didn't even notice when Catherine kneeled beside the other woman. "The one?" she asked, lifting the blonde's head.

"The one…who broke Chang's shell."

Catherine smiled gently and said, "what shell?"

Dorothy closed her eyes and laughed, coughing up a bit of blood in the process. "I see," she said then. "In that case, I was hopeless from the beginning."

_A/N: Geez. I feel like an idiot. I typed this chapter, then started chapter five, and saved over it, and had to type it all over again…NOW I can type chapter five. Heh._

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_Unknown: I think Cat is my fav. g-girl as well. It's sad, because I'd thought I uploaded this whole story already...but then I got your review and was like "oh! damnit!" hah. I have to go to work soon, but I'll try to get it all uploaded before then._


	5. Chapter Five

**Butterfly: Black Wings**

**By: Banshee Puppet**

**Chapter Five: Courage and Faith**

The first thing Wufei heard was Naone's voice cry out for mercy. In truth it wasn't much more than a surprised and suffering scream. He could hear her crying in that scream.

Lin Pao had always been a man with the potential for violence. Couple that with his volcanic temper and Wufei only wished that he could be surprised to find Naone clutching at a bullet wound in her thigh.

"Cut it out!" he demanded.

Lin turned and smirked at him. "Or what? What will be my penance, my _very dear cousin_, Wufei?"

"I'll kill you, you bastard!" he demanded, lunging at him with a flurry of punches.

Lin Pao blocked and lunged in with a side kick, but Wufei evaded by jumping upwards and connecting a spinning hook kick solidly with his couzin's jaw, sending the former monk spiraling backwards.

"Such threats! We're all going to die when the core explodes anyway, so hurry up and kill me, dragon!"

Lin lunged at Wufei's legs, tackling him to the ground and delivering a flurry of punches to his midsection. Wufei raised his knee into Lin's ribs and flipped them, standing and drop kicking the man's collarbone as he too rose. "My pleasure," Wufei returned. 'For stealing my peaceful life,' he thought, ' I will _never_ forgive you, Lin Pao.'

Zechs could feel the sweat beading on his brow the closer he got to the core. He could see the charred side of the containment unit and knew that it would only be a matter of time before the thing bliew. The obvious answer was to throw the thing into the sun, but the sun was hundreds of miles away and too far to reach in time. It was then that the distant solar rays reflected off of gaseous Saturn's rings. 'That…might just work, actually.' Of course, if it didn't, they were all screwed.

There was work to do, and Trowa was intent on leaving Catherine behind, and Catherine was just as intent on going. And Quatre was trying to keep his nose out of family business, so….

Trowa didn't know why the girl was so insistent upon going to help rescue Wufei. As far as he knew, she hardly knew the young man. Besides that, things were starting to get crazy: Zechs was trying to diffuse a potential black hole; Wufei was probably facing off with another Treize Kushrenada, Dorothy Catalonia was lying in a heap on the floor with Quatre tending to her, and now Catherine wanted to 'play hero'. Trowa couldn't help but wonder, 'what next?'

"Trowa Barton," Dorothy said, coughing out a bit of blood in the process.

"Huh?" It was strange to hear her address him. He didn't know of her ever doing so before.

Before he looked at her, she gave Catherine a meaningful look. 'Go,' it said. 'Save the man you love. It's what you want to do, right? To protect the person you love? That is also my desire…'

"Who is it that you love?" Dorothy asked Trowa.

'Who have I been competing with, losing to?' She needed an answer, so it was with a little bitterness that she took his questioning eyes, like he didn't get it.

Looking at the two blondes, he realized it was a question that he didn't have an answer to give her. "I don't know," he said honestly. "Quatre, take care of that idiot while I…" he turned his head to find Catherine quite a ways up the hall already. "Damnit! Cathy!" He chased after her at full tilt, knowing that he wouldn't catch up if she didn't want him to. 'That idiot!'

The battle was all but won. Wufei no longer had any anger or doubts, he just wanted it to be over. His left leg swung upward, ready to deliver the final blow, when a scream erupted and he shot his head to the source.

"Nooo!" Naone cried, and eyes squeezed tightly shut, sent a shot out of the gun that Wufei had dropped to the side earlier. The bullet ripped through Wufei's shoulder. That damn shotgun. He knew he shouldn't have put it down. He couldn't help but fall back with a hissing squeak, the sound of a loud yell being held back. "Don't hurt him anymore!" she begged helplessly. She understood what was happening. She knew it was completely one-sided but… 'but I still love him. I can't help it.'

Lin Pao saw his chance and acted on it, he pulled his revolver out and eased back on the safety…

It was going to take everything the space Leo had to make this work, so Zechs threw all of his weight into launching the core into Saturn's rings. And at the proper time, just past the second ring, he fired. The explosion shook everything for miles, but if he was right, the mass in Saturn's rings would serve as a plug for the hole he'd just ripped in space. Either way, he would have to get back to the ship before the Leo's reserves were decimated. Too bad for him that he'd already used them. With no fuel and very little oxygen, he watched the mass of rings one at a time and wondered, 'is this the end? Is this how I'm going to die?'

It was then that he heard the dull roar of an engine.

It was instinct, as she slammed through the doorway, to reach under her jacket for the throwing knife when she saw a gun aimed at Wufei's head.

"Don't be stupid," Lin warned, grabbing Wufei and holding him hostage against his chest.

When Catherine's eyes locked the ebon-eyed youth's, she found him to be completely calm, having no doubts at all about her aim. And seeing this was all the courage and faith she needed. It happened quickly, the knife sliding through expert fingertips and slamming into Lin Pao's right hand. The gun dropped, thunking against Wufei's bleeding shoulder, sending him sinking painfully to his knees while Lin clutched at his hand screaming. "Are you insane?! Fucking lunatic woman!"

Wufei couldn't help but laugh, looking up slightly and smirking at Catherine just as Trowa entered behind her. "She's not insane," he said. "She's an expert."

Trowa raised an eyebrow; he was sure now that he was missing something, but as Lin Pao yanked the throwing knife painfully from his hand, Trowa knew that now was _not_ the time to dwell on it. He lifted his gun and a shot rang out from somewhere behind him!

'There!' Zechs' Leo was floating just outside of Saturn's orbit.

"I don't normally pick up hitch hikers, but I think I'll make an exception just this once," Quatre announced to Zechs' usual frequency.

Zechs opened his eyes looking out the front hatch of the Leo when Quatre tore the electronic hatch away. His breath threaded and spread across the helmet of his space suit, Zech couldn't help but laugh hoarsely. It started as a small chuckle and exploded as the Aries hand gently pulled him out of the cockpit. Quatre let a tear roll down his cheek for the other man. 'I understand,' he thought. 'Keep laughing. Laugh as long and loud as you want to so that you don't have to be sad or afraid. You're alive Zechs Marquise, or Miliardo Peacecraft, Preventer Wind or whoever else you choose to be—you're alive, so go right ahead and keep laughing.'

It was now that Quatre remembered Dorothy. She'd lost a lot of blood. "Go on," she told him. He knew what was going on, having gotten the basics from Trowa, and he knew that out there, somewhere, Zechs was all alone, the same as always, walking the solitary red path of the soldier. And so Dorothy had told him, "go on, rescue that idiot that thinks he's a hero. There's no way that I'm going to die here. I refuse to be killed by _that_ guy."

Quatre's eyes had widened in sudden understanding. 'I had no idea…' But in the end, she'd been right; he took the 'something interesting' he found in the hangar, namely and old Aries mobile doll model that had been modified to hold a pilot, and he went to find Zechs. Damn good thing he did too—the Leo was thrashed.

Suddenly the laughter broke into a long silence. "Winner?"

"Yeah?"

"Why don't I die?"

A pain hit Quatre's heart at those words. "You must still have something to do."

"Oh. Alright, as long as there's a reason it's fine."

'Thank you Quatre Raberba Winner,' Zechs thought. 'I've been waiting for an answer to that question for a long time. Knowing that then, I can keep pushing forward.'

Drix's hands shook. 'What did I just do?' he wondered. He had to think back over the past hour. He'd been shot in the shoulder. Then, Dorothy Catalonia had been shot right in front of him. 'I didn't even do anything to stop it,' he remembered, feeling guilty. She was a brave woman. Watching her, he realized that he had a long way to go for Naone—as a soldier, and also as a man. Alone in the hallway, Dorothy pushed herself into a sitting position and looked at him. She just _looked_ at him. He didn't know how else to explain it, her eyes asking 'is this really as far as you can go? As much as you're able to do for _your_ love?'

Before he knew it, before he could even think, he was on his feet, the wound in his shoulder still pulsing hotly, and he was running down the hall to do more, to push just a little farther…and now, what had happened? What had just happened? The gun tumbled out of his fingertips and hit the floor, a sound that resonated through his skull like a single note played on a triangle, echoing until you think your ears might explode, a gunshot, a body falling, the world reduced to life and echoes of life. What he was witnessing now, was an echo, as he realized—he'd just saved the enemy. He'd just shot Lin Pao.

"Lin!" Naone cried out, running to his side. She hovered over him, hands ready to touch and not touching for a long moment before she took his hand in hers. He squeezed it tightly, eyes unfocused. "Where's...Wufei?" he grit out.

"…here," Wufei was so surprised it came out as mostly a squeak.

"Just…I never hated you, cousin. It was that I…wanted to _be_ you. Because you had everything that mattered." He turned unfocused eyes to Naone, the blood pooling out around him. He was definitely going to die from a chest wound like _that_.

"It's okay Lin," she said, cheeks stained. You can be happy now, somewhere quiet, without the echoes of war. I'll meet you there, okay?"

"Yeah, that sounds good," Lin choked out blearily on his last breath. "I always loved you, Meiran."

A/N: phew. That was a lot of action-packed typing…and now…onto chapter six. cracks knuckles Geez, I've typed like 20 pages already today…ugh…

(upload upload upload...oy. thinks of having to code this all and put it on her website...sigh)


	6. Chapter Six

**Butterfly: Black Wings**

**By: Banshee Puppet**

**Chapter Six: I did it for You**

There is a lonely silence that only outer space can fathom. Dying, Wufei figured, must be like that. The world was in slow motion. 'Am I alive?' he wondered as Catherine's eyes flooded and she launched herself at him, sobbing.

'I thought you were going to die!' she thought at him. 'Don't scare me like that, never ever scare me like that!'

It was still filtering through his brain; Lin Pao was dead and he'd been in love with Meiran, and Naone, as she hollered at the dark-haired man kneeling on the ground with quivering hands, "Drix! How could you?! I'll never, ever forgive you!" was obviously in love with Lin.

"Arima, I…" but Drix didn't bother finishing his original thought, he just laughed. "I did it for you."

People do strange things for love. If Wufei had thought that to be true before, it was as certain as breathing was now. He wrapped his only useable arm around Catherine. 'I'm sorry,' he thought, 'but nothing has changed. I will still go to any length to protect you.'

"You're a total jerk," she told him.

"Yeah," he returned quietly. "You've always known that. I won't change."

Trowa could only blink in confusion as Catherine muttered, "Yeah. Pisses me off."

He jumped when Quatre's voice came from behind him suddenly and he said, "let's give them a few minutes."

Trowa turned abruptly to find a somewhat battered Zechs helping Drix to his feet. "Mission accomplished," he stated.

"Yeah, same here," Trowa said. "…I think."

Quatre laughed. "I'll explain later," he told Trowa. "Anyway, it's useless to get in the way of real love right?"

"I…guess so." But it was still difficult for Trowa to fathom what those two could possibly have in common. Regardless, with only one more look over his shoulder as they left, he followed the others out of the room after cuffing Naone. She didn't resist. She had no reason left for fighting.

Catherine finally lifted her head.

"You're going to leave again, aren't you? You're going to fly away from me again," she asked.

"…yes."

"But why?"

"Because I love you more than anything else," he told her point blank.

Catherine laughed. She couldn't believe how ridiculously funny it all seemed suddenly. "I see, so _that's_ the reason. Then let's just stay like this for a little longer, a minute will be enough for now."

"Yeah."

'Because if you think this is over,' Catherine thought, 'if you think this settles it, then you're in for one hell of a wake-up call, Chang Wufei. You're totally dreaming. I won't let go.'

And now, the epilogue…tries to go type epilogue in…six minutes


	7. Epilogue

**Butterfly: Black Wings**

**By: Banshee Puppet**

**Epilogue: Selfeless Love**

_6 MONTHS LATER_

"I thought you'd complain more about training duty," Sally said as Wufei stood, stretching out his shoulder. Ever since he'd gotten shot, it always ached right before a heavy rain came in.

"Things have been dull," he stated. 'Torturing the newbies is a welcome distraction.'

"You seem to be all out of anger as well. That must be a side effect of this selfless love of yours."

"Drop it."

Sally raised her arms in submission. "Let's get going."

Wufei nodded. He'd never taken this sort of job before. It had seemed too dull, but it would be a good change of pace. He called the roll in perfect militant tones. "Amarant, Ko."

"Sir!" the young man saluted.

"DelMar, Rita."

"Sir!"

"Davis, Charles."

"Sir!"

"Cunningham, Reginald."

"Ah, it's Drix sir, legally." The young man saluted and Wufei's eyes widened slightly as he recognized him. He gave a curt nod. "Cunningham, Drix," he called.

"Sir!"

Wufei smirked, slightly and continued.

"Arashi, Kodomo."

"Sir!"

"O'Rourke, Christopher."

"Sir!"

"Bloom, Catherine." 'Hey, waitaminute!'

"Sir!"

His eyes shot up to lock on a very familiar gray-violet. "CATHERINE! What the hell are you doing here?" He totally lost his cool. Why was Catherine registered as a Preventer trainee? What was the girl thinking? It had to be some sort of mistake.

Sally brought her hand to her mouth and tried not to laugh. "Things are starting to get interesting," she commented.

Wufei shot her a good, solid glare. "You're _not_ helping!!"

Things were getting interesting indeed.

The End

A/N: Phew, I finally got this all typed, now I need to upload it…blargh. Why can't I just telepathically zap all of my stories to the places I need to put them???

Anyway, one more part to go, and I haven't started it yet. That'll be "Butterfly: Outside the Cocoon." Wow, that's a really crappy title. Meh, whatever. Finally will get back into some serious W/C fun. Wait for it! Cheers and yaaawwwwnnnn

B.P.


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